Former Theranos Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes should spend 15 years in prison for committing one of the most serious white-collar crimes in Silicon Valley history, prosecutors told the judge who will sentence her.
In a request filed late Friday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco, prosecutors injected a new element into the closely watched case: a recommendation that Holmes, 38, be ordered to pay full restitution to her investors, including Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Safeway Inc. — sums adding up to more than $800 million.
Duping novice and sophisticated investors alike, Holmes was “blinded by ambition,” prosecutors said in a court filing. The founder of the blood-testing startup that reached a peak valuation of $9 billion before collapsing in ruins in 2018 operated in a “reality distortion field,” in which her pursuit of fame, adoration and billions of dollars of wealth justified forgery and deceit that put patient safety at risk, the government said.
